PROCLAMATION, CITY OF MELBOURNE, FLORIDA

ABORTION INDUSTRY IN MELBOURNE, FLORIDA
PROCLAMATION, CITY OF MELBOURNE, FLORIDA

CITY OF MELBOURNE, FLORIDA

PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS: Legalized abortion has resulted in the deaths of more than 25 million children; and

WHEREAS: Abortion has been, and continues to be, a divisive issue, yet each of us can and should work together to affirm and celebrate life both by supporting mothers, children and the unborn, and by promoting adoption and the virtues of strong families; and

WHEREAS: Churches and secular organizations across our state are to be commended for offering comfort, advice and alternatives to abortion for women in crisis; and

WHEREAS: January 22, 1998 marks the 25th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States; and

WHEREAS: Many citizens in Florida and across the nation will mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade by observing 25 days of prayer and fasting to end abortion.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT I, John A. Buckley, Mayor, City of Melbourne, Brevard County, Florida, do hereby proclaim January 1998 as

"A MONTH OF PRAYER TO END ABORTION"

in the City of Melbourne.

Witness my hand and the seal of the City of Melbourne this 13th day of January, 1998.

<signed>
John A. Buckley, Mayor

Comments on the Proclamation by Matt Carroll, Melbourne City Councilman
mjcarroll@juno.com (Matthew J Carroll)
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The resolution is for a month of prayer to end abortion. This prayer will mean different things to different people. Most people agree that they wish there were not a need for abortion. When they pray for an end to abortion, they will also be praying for very other things as well.

To the ardent feminist who believes abortions are necessary to maintain parity between the sexes, an answer to this prayer would mean that true equality between the sexes exists, and abortions are no longer required, that the capability to have children is not considered a "strike" against women.

To the pro-choice citizen who believes abortion must be protected to assure that individuals have freedom, an answer to this prayer would mean that we have found a way to exercise our freedom while avoiding the serious nature of abortion surgery. Maybe that rape and incest are wiped off the face of the earth.

To the loving young father of a child unborn, it means he has found a woman who does not need to consider abortion, because she trusts him to help her raise the child. That he has been found worthy to be called "father".

To the young mother of a child unborn, it means she does not need to consider abortion because she has the support and love she needs to choose life for her baby. It means that when she hears she is pregnant, her first response is happiness, and not fear.

To the pro-life man or woman, it will mean that the unborn children will no longer be sent, un-named and un-loved, into eternity; that the mothers and fathers of these children will have the blessings of Providence as they rear their children in peace.

This prayer will mean different things to different people, but I believe most citizens of conscience can pray for an end to abortion in the same way they can pray for "peace on earth", of "goodwill towards men". There need be no hesitation when we are asked to pray for better times.

The one reasonable objection to this proclamation that I have heard from different people is that the city shouldn't involve itself with this issue. I disagree. By most counts, over 30,000 abortions have occurred in Melbourne. The impact to each of the parents in each case is known but to God. 60,000 such persons exist in Brevard county. Then there are the parents of this couple who chose abortion. 120,000 grandparents of children never born. Suppose each one of the ones aborted would have had 2 friends; that's 60,000 friends never made. Already, that's over a quarter million in Brevard county alone that are impacted directly. We all are already involved in abortion.

I submit that we all have been profoundly impacted by abortion, that it has shaped our lives, that we are missing guests at our dinner tables, that our playgrounds are missing the laughter of children never born.

I have heard someone say that every person on earth has a song that they alone can sing, that their lives are lived as songs and gifts to God. I submit that through abortion we have forever and irredeemably lost the special songs that God gave the 30,000 singers that were never born in the city of Melbourne.